"The way you lose the gospel is not by denying it but by assuming it" -D.A. Carson

Friday, February 26, 2010

Grace from a male figure skater

Sometimes people really surprise you. Just more proof that you can't judge folks by "the outward appearance," because God reminds us in his correspondence with Samuel, "the Lord looks at the heart (I Sam 16:7)."

Now while God intended this passage to show that Israel shouldn't simply be awed by King Saul's awesome size, and ignore the younger and smaller David, I think this could also be applicable figure skating. Of course to some degree. Let me explain.

Before going any further, I will say this: Connar will not be doing any male or male/male pair figure skating like Will Farell and John Heder in Blades of Glory. However I will also say that I was extremely humbled in my judgment of figure skater Evan Lysacek during an interview.

If you didn't see Lysacek's routine, or whatever you call it, he wore a black feathered outfit. The joker looked like a crow, as you can tell from the above picture. He really did. I thought he might fly through the screen and "caw" at me. Though his outfit was black, he looked as fruity as Tropicana. That's how he appeared.

Then came the verbal jabs from the rival, a mullet sporting "Rusky." You know, typical figure skating "smack" like so-and-so doesn't do any "quads, and shouldn't be in consideration for a medal" and "because of him the sport is regressing." The standard smack.

After winning the gold, and the Rusky the silver, Bob Costas interviewed him. Costas couldn't ignore such statements, and that's when Evan's response blew me away. He did not fire ANY smack back. He spoke well of the Rusky, explaining that in the heat of the moment, people say things.

Costas then reminded him that these quotes came well before the silver. So Evan then responded, "Well....he has been a mentor for a number of years, and has been great for the 'sport'......what he's accomplished has been amazing...."

Wow. That's grace. Pastors and pastor-blogger types don't show this much grace to fellow pastor-blogger types. Humbled indeed by "the crow." Points me back to the One who didn't revile when folks reviled Him (I Peter 3:16). And He did it for me. I hope I would be as gracious as Evan, but if/when I fail in this area, it is good to know someone died for that sin and gives us all back-smackers and "quick-responders" hope to grow in this area.